Virginia's Evening At The Park

The tree was nearly finished and it was finally starting to feel like Christmas. Powdered snow padded the windows and ground below.

Just as Father had topped off the tree with the star, Mother walked in.

"I'm going to go downtown for some late Christmas shopping", she says, "Would you like to come, Virginia?"

I bounce on my tippy-toes. Christmas shopping was one of my favorite holiday activities. "Yes, Mommy!", I say, peeking in the closet for a coat.

"Ready to go, Virginia?" Mother calls. "I've got your coat!"

I slam the closet door and run off to meet Mother at the front. "Coming!", I yell. Sure enough, she had my coat in her arms.

When Mother and I reached the downtown shops, we could see it was busy. The walkways were full of anxious mothers prodding reluctant children along, away from the toy stores and bicycle shops. Mother patted the glass of a few modern dress shops, muttering about how 'overpriced' they all were. I patted some of the windows too, but those windows showcased marbles and skipping rope, instead of fancy clothes.

I gasped and squeezed Mother's hand. "Look!" I cry, "Mommy, they're having skating lessons!" I start to bounce on my toes again.

"So I see", Mother says, looking thoughtful. "It says they’re having it this afternoon, down at the park."

"Please, mommy?" I plead as I look into her eyes. "Can we go?"

Mother touched her nose for a moment, then lowered herself to my eye level. "Tell you what", she says, "We’ll go down there later today and try it out. See if you like it. Does that sound okay?"

I smile up at her. "Better than okay! Spectacular!" I give her a tight hug.

"That’s settled then", Mother says. "But I need to do some shopping while I’m here. When I’m done, we can hurry home and get you ready. Deal?"

"Deal!", I say.

We stopped by some shops, not buying much, but mostly looking. In the end, we went inside a store selling sweets for what Mother called a 'reasonable price', and bought a few small candies in a stiff brown paper bag for home.

Once we were home, Mother took both of our coats and laid them on a peg by the door.

"Go change into something lighter, Virginia", Mother says, "I'm going to make some lunch, so we can eat before we head back out."

When I came back to the kitchen in my pretty green dress, Mother and my little sister Mabel were waiting for me. Mother had placed plates of meat and fruit in front of each of us, and Mabel had already dug in.

"Mabel", I say, "Do you know what I’m doing this afternoon?"

Mabel fidgeted in her seat. "No", she says.

"I'm skating!" I tell her, "I'll be gliding on ice!"

Mabel pouted a little. "Mommy, why can't I come?"

"You're too little", Mother says. Mabel made a face, but was then quiet.

Immediately, I felt bad that she couldn't come with us. "When you're bigger, I can teach you", I offered.

Mabel beamed at me. "Really?"

I nodded. "Absolutely", I tell her.

We gobbled down our lunch, Mother swooping in when we were finished, to gather our dishes and clean them with

foamy soap and running water.

I clapped my hands with glee. "Can we go, can we go?" I ask.

Mother smiled. "Yes, we can go", she says, putting the dishes aside. "Get your coat and let's hurry down to the park."

We both put our coats back on and Mother opened the door. Before stepping out, however, I gave a little wave to Mabel. "See you later!", I say.

We hustled and bustled down the sidewalks, all the way to the park with a large pond in the middle of it. Some other children were already there with their skates on. A bit frantic, I pulled on Mother’s arm.

"We’re late!", I cry.

"No, no", she consoles me, "We’re just in time." We fast-walked over to where the instructor stood, right at the edge of the frozen pond.

"Hello", the instructor greeted us, "I suppose you're here for skating lessons?"

"Yes, ma'am", I say. I stand tall, so she can see how big I really am.

"Ah. My name is Helen Boland", she says, looking down at me, "And you are?"

"My name is Virginia", I tell her.

We shake hands. "Nice to meet you, Virginia", Miss Boland says.

The instructor smiles and bends down to look me eye to eye. "Virginia", she says, "Would you like to borrow these and return them to me at the end of the lesson?" She holds out a pair of pretty white skates with silver blades.

Really, I didn't ever want to give them back, but Mother always says to be polite. "Yes, ma’am", I tell her. She gives me the skates and I sit on a patch of snow to tie them. It was much harder than I thought, and after quite a struggle, Mother came over and helped me get them on right.

With a little help from Instructor Boland, I stepped out onto the ice. I was on my feet now, balancing on the skate's thin blades. I felt unsteady, the ice felt much more slippery than I'd thought it would be.

I tried getting a bit farther with each choppy stroke I made.

Push...push...

The blade made a slicing noise every time I scraped at the ice.

Push...Slip!

All of a sudden, my feet came from under me—

THUMP!

—and I was down on the ice in one fluid motion.

Miss Boland, the instructor, hurried over to me to help me get back up. I saw she had put her skates on as well. "This is why I'm here", she tells me, offering me her hand.

I nod and grab her hand. Once I'm up, she leads me over to the other children: a girl a few years older than me, another girl closer to my age, and a boy who was much younger than any of us.

"We’re going to all follow me and skate around in a circle along the edges of the pond", she tells us, "Does that sound good to everyone?"

Everyone but the little boy nods, so Instructor Boland takes his hand and pulls him along instead. He seemed to enjoy this. Me and the two other girls do as we’re told and follow the instructor around the pond.

That was when I slipped again, and landed promptly on my bottom. It took a second before Instructor Boland and the other children skated over to me. Tears pooled in the corners of my eyes.